Freeski halfpipe leaders one step away from season Crystal Globe in Calgary
Feb 13, 2025·Freeski Park & Pipe)
The freeski world’s focus will be on Calgary this week for the fifth and final halfpipe stop of the 2024/25 FIS Freeski World Cup season, when this year’s halfpipe Crystal Globes will be in deserving hands by competition end on Saturday.
Great Britain’s Zoe Atkin leads the women’s field of 21 skiers in Calgary, which includes seven skiers representing the USA and five from the host nation of Canada.
Competition in Calgary will begin with the women’s qualifications from 9:50 Mountain Standard Time (MST) on Friday 14 February, followed by men’s qualifications at 12:05 MST.
Twenty-two-year-old Atkin is currently ranked second behind China’s Eileen Gu in the halfpipe World Cup standings – but with Gu not competing in Calgary, the British skier is in prime position to overtake Gu’s 300 points with a strong result in Calgary.
With 261 points to her credit, a finish of just sixth or better would move Atkin ahead of Gu and potentially give Atkin the first Crystal Globe of her seven-season World Cup career.
However, with China’s Li Fanghui holding 213 points and also within striking distance of the Globe, it will require a third-place finish or better from Atkin to ensure an overall 2024/25 halfpipe World Cup victory.
Atkin won the most recent halfpipe World Cup in Aspen on 2 February ahead of Li, who comes to Calgary fresh off her gold medal performance in front of a home crowd at the Harbin 2025 Asian Winter Games on 8 February. Li also claimed second, behind Gu, at Secret Garden (CHN) in December, and took silver at the 2025 X Games in January.
The U.S. women’s halfpipe team is led by 22-year-old Svea Irving, who missed out on a podium finish on home snow at both Aspen earlier in February, and at Copper in December. Irving finished third at Secret Garden behind Li, and opened her halfpipe season with fourth place at Cardrona (NZL) in September.
Meanwhile, Team Canada will be placing its hopes in Amy Fraser, Cassie Sharpe, Rachael Karker, Dillan Glennie and Ava Dittmer.
Fraser finished third at Aspen for her fifth World Cup career podium. The 29-year-old has also qualified for every final and finished within the top six at all of her World Cup starts this season, and was previously runner-up in Calgary at the 2024 edition.
Karker, on the other hand, has struggled since she began her 2024/25 season with third place at Cardrona for a record-setting 13th consecutive World Cup podium. Since then she has finished in 15th, seventh and sixth place at Secret Garden, Copper and Aspen respectively. However, with six podiums in six career starts in Calgary, Karker is in the right venue to right the ship and finish her season off on a home-soil high.
On the men’s side, U.S. skier Alex Ferreira leads the discipline standings on 360 points from two victories and two second place finishes. With 101 points separating the 30-year-old from his nearest competitor Brendan Mackay (CAN), Ferreira has already locked in what will be his second consecutive halfpipe Crystal Globe and the third of his career.
Ferreira is also fresh off his U.S. podium sweep-leading victory from Aspen, with that win marking back-to-back victories after he took the W at Copper in December.
Mackay, meanwhile, finished ninth at Aspen after previously claiming second place in Copper, fourth at Secret Garden, and an outright victory at the season-opener in Cardrona.
Twenty-seven-year-old Mackay is one of 12 Canadians featured in the men’s field of 50 skiers, while Ferreira is one of 21 men representing the USA.
Ferreira’s runner-up at Aspen, Nick Goepper, trails Mackay’s 259 points on 240 points. Goepper’s result in Aspen marked the second time he was part of a U.S. podium sweep this season, with the 30-year-old leading a U.S. top-three finish ahead of Ferreira at Secret Garden in December.
Goepper also finished third behind Mackay at Copper and previously finished third in slopestyle at Calgary in 2020. The 30-year-old, however, missed the top-three in Calgary last season, finishing in fifth place.
Other U.S. skiers to watch include Hunter Hess, David Wise and Matthew Labaugh, with the latter completing the U.S. podium sweep in Aspen.
Hess finished fourth behind Labaugh in Aspen, while Wise rounded up the first U.S. podium sweep at Secret Garden in December. Twenty-six-year-old Hess has also qualified for every halfpipe final this season, with his performance in Aspen his best result thus far.
New Zealand teenagers Finley Melville Ives and Luke Harrold may not be in the running for the Crystal Globe ranked fifth and eighth respectively on the halfpipe World Cup standings, but the young pair have qualified for almost every final this season.
Eighteen-year-old Melville Ives finished just off the podium in fourth place at Copper for his best result out of his four World Cup finals thus far this season, while 16-year-old Harrold finished fifth behind four much more experienced Americans in the high-scoring Aspen final.
Melville Ives also finished fourth at last season’s World Cup in Calgary, and sixth at the 2023 edition during his debut season as a 16-year-old.
The top 10 men and top eight women from qualifications will progress to the finals beginning at 19:00 MST on Saturday 15 February.
HALFPIPE FACTS & FIGURES
Alex Ferreira (USA) and David Wise (USA) lead the all-time halfpipe World Cup podiums record with 19.
Eileen Gu (CHN) leads the all-time halfpipe World Cup victories standings with 14, compared to Ferreira’s 11 wins.
Gu’s closest rival in the women’s field is Cassie Sharpe (CAN) on eight wins out of 10 total podiums.
Gu has amassed a total of 16 halfpipe World Cup podium finishes. Rachael Karker (USA) trails Gu with 15 podiums.
QUICK LINKS
Calgary Halfpipe World Cup data page (start lists, live scoring, results)
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